A Million and One Questions
by Moofy-Fan
Summary: The night Myrrha came back to the palace, a million and one questions had run through Keane's head. Now was the only chance he'd ever get to ask them as well. Myrrha was leaving for good in the morning, after all.


Hey peoples. I'm tired and need to work on my other stories, but ya know, sometimes you just need to write a oneshot. Now is one of those times. So here's a little oneshot for all your enjoyment, as I slowly but surely build up the Keane section from scratch.

A Million and One Questions

It was probably two, maybe closer to three in the morning, and at this time Crown Prince Keane, like he assumed most normal people were, knew he _should _be sleeping. It was almost painfully clear to the redhead that he would not be getting another wink of sleep tonight though, and truthfully, he was still in too much shock to care. Instead, he peeked over the edge of his bed to sneak yet another look at the cause of his dishevel. It was just leaning with his back against the wall and staring off at nothing while a million and one questions ran through Keane's head.

No matter how many times he looked, it still didn't seem real. Myrrha was alive. Just showed up in the hallway in the middle of the night with a bunch of strange people Keane had never seen before. Explaining that these were his friends, and he just wanted to see his mother one last time. Then promising to vanish from their lives again just as suddenly as he had the first time.

There was no way that Keane had been able to do anything but offer to help them as best as he could.

The others were all asleep now, since they probably wouldn't get another chance for a while once they left the palace. At least, that's what Myrrha had said. The silver haired boy was still awake though, but it was clear that he was lost in his own mind at the moment.

"Myrrha?" Keane asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he was looking at a ghost. Plus, if he and his friends _were _real, then he didn't want to wake them either way.

Despite this, it was still loud enough to catch the other boy's attention. Myrrha simply turned towards him slightly, an almost bored look on his face. Keane couldn't tell if that's how he was really feeling, or if he was just tired, or he simply didn't want the other boy to know how he actually felt about all of this.

"Um…" he started, not really sure what he wanted to say first. There were so many things he wanted to ask, and this was the only chance he would ever have to ask them. Myrrha was leaving for good once morning came around.

"You're _really_ alive?" he finally decided on, still keeping his voice in a whisper. The silver boy just rolled his eyes at the question, and Keane didn't really blame him all that much. He'd already asked him that maybe close to fifty times since Myrrha had gotten him to stop freaking out about him being a ghost.

"For the last time, yes. If that's all you wanted to know then stop staring at me and go back to sleep," Myrrha answered. The only thing was, that _wasn't _the only thing Keane wanted to know, he just wasn't sure how to word his next question.

"Right… but um, I was just kind of wondering… how?" he managed at last. The silver boy glanced up at him from his place on the floor, a slight look of confusion on his face.

"How what?" he asked back, and Keane shrugged, pushing himself into a sitting position on his bed.

"How are you alive?" he asked again, and a soft oh sound escaped Myrrha's throat. He quickly rolled his eyes though, lifting his head up slightly and pointing to some black designs on the side of his neck that Keane could just barely make out in the darkness. He'd noticed them before, and it was barely a second before the word's left the younger boy did he realized just exactly what they were.

"I became a +anima. How else did you think?" he responded, and Keane really didn't have any other way he could have possibly lived.

"I don't know. I was just making sure," he answered. One thing that hadn't changed was Myrrha. He was acting almost exactly like Keane remembered him, if not slightly more mature, and apparently much more social with the group of people he had shown up with.

"Those other guys are +anima too. Is that why you're traveling with them?" he asked, and this time the younger boy glared at him from across the darkness.

"I'm traveling with them because they're my friends. Being +anima is just… I don't know, something we all had in common that helped us meet in the first place, but that's not _why_ they're my friends," he said defensively. Before Keane was able to speak, he started again, "well, except for Kazana. The guy with the hawk wings? We don't really know him all that well, he just said he'd help us get into the palace," Myrrha added as an afterthought. Keane just nodded, letting the information sink in.

"Oh, okay…" he said, trailing off slightly as he tried to think of what else to say. So far, Myrrha didn't seem to mind him asking these questions, which he guessed he really should be thankful for. They had never gotten along back when they were younger, so he wouldn't have blamed the silver boy if he just refused to answer him and told him to go back to sleep again.

"So, what's it like?" Keane asked, once again causing Myrrha to frown.

"You really need to be more specific with your questions. I can't read your mind, you know," he answered, and the redhead nodded shakily. He was suddenly flooded with wondering whether or not ghosts could read minds, but tried to ignore the thought as he asked his question once again.

"I meant, what's you're life like now, I guess… Where've you been living all this time? You said that your friends traveled 'all this way' with you, but you didn't say where you guys started out," he explained, and Myrrha nodded, seeming to understand him much better now. Truthfully, Keane was impressed that the was able to express himself so clearly with how muddled his brain still felt about all of this.

"Oh, I've been in Astaria. It's been… okay. I mean, we travel a lot, but we're able to get by pretty well," he said. Keane felt his eyebrows rise in surprise, and he leaned a bit closer to the edge of his bed.

"Astaria? But that's so far away! How'd you get all the way out there?" he asked, and once again Myrrha just shrugged, as if all of this was no big deal for him.

"I swam. It wasn't like I could stay in Sailand, after all," he said, and reluctantly Keane nodded. He couldn't have stayed in Sailand, not if he didn't want to become a slave…

"And you guys are able to take care of yourselves? Just the four of you traveling around without any adults?" he asked. If he took the hawk +anima out of the picture, then Myrrha just had those two other kids and the Kim-un-ker teen. They didn't seem like the most… resourceful people in the world either. The black haired boy, he was pretty sure Myrrha had called him Cooro, seemed pretty naive, and the girl had ended up hitting his half-brother across the face when trying to act tough. The Kim-un-ker hadn't said a single thing so far, and it was just now that Keane realized that.

Myrrha just nodded though, as if he didn't see any faults at all with a couple of kids taking care of themselves and traveling across two countries alone.

"Yeah. It's not _easy,_ but like I said, we get by," he said, and Keane just stared at him in awe for a moment. He had never actually left the palace, so he didn't have any idea what it was possibly like for Myrrha out there. From what he'd learned about from books combined with his own imagination though, he could very readily believe that he was telling the truth when he said it wasn't easy.

Neither boy said anything for a few moments, although Keane could tell that Myrrha was trying to ignore the way he was staring at him. He couldn't help it though, it wasn't everyday that someone you'd thought you'd help to kill came back to life and said that everything he'd been told about the event was wrong.

He wanted to ask him what really happened, but with the way he'd cut himself off before… maybe it was just enough to know that it wasn't actually a suicide attempt, and it wasn't his fault. However he ended up in that pond, it might just be better not to know.

Instead, he decided to distract himself with another question, this one having bothered him for quite some time now.

"Hey Myrrha? I've been wondering, if they're your friends, why are they calling you Husky?" he asked, quickly catching the silver boy's attention once again.

"What do you mean, why? Why _wouldn't _they call me Husky?" he asked back, and this time it was Keane's turn to frown.

"I thought you hated when we called you that. I made it up to tease you," the redhead said, the confusion he felt clear in his voice.

"I never said I didn't like the name. Husky fits me better now anyway, Myrrha's too formal sounding," he answered nonchalantly. Keane had to admit, Myrrha did sound ridiculously fancy for a +anima boy as brash as his half-brother could be that just traveled the countryside with his friends.

For some reason, it felt oddly nice that Myrrha was still using the name he'd made up for him. Even if it had originally been an insult, he was glad that it had managed to evolve into something more.

"You should really try to get some sleep, it's late. You're Crown Prince now, right? You probably have a lot of classes and stuff," the silver boy said, and reluctantly Keane nodded. He did have a whole lot more classes than when Myrrha had been first in line for the throne, but he already knew that he wasn't going to sleep tonight.

"I turn thirteen tomorrow, so that's when it'll become official, but yeah, basically," he explained. The redhead didn't understand the surprised look that swept across Myrrha's face at first.

"Oh… um, happy birthday or something, then, I guess," he mumbled, and Keane blinked in realization as to why Myrrha had been surprised. He guessed it was a little strange that they had arrived so close to his birthday and coronation.

That had actually been part of the reason he'd thought it was a ghost or he'd been hallucinating or something. All the stress was getting to him. Apparently not though, and it was just a case of odd timing.

"Thanks," he whispered back, glancing around the room at the other sleeping figured before continuing. "You're really leaving for good tomorrow?" he asked, and Myrrha nodded.

"Yeah. Like I said, I just want to say bye to my mother and then you'll never have to worry about hearing from me again," he said, as if that was something that Keane actually wanted to happen. He get why the silver boy might think that, with the whole way their political futures were set up, Myrrha was his biggest rival. If he stayed, it would mean potential trouble for him, but…

"It's not like I _want _to never see you again…" he mumbled, causing the younger boy to look at him strangely. Keane couldn't tell if he didn't actually understood what he said, or why he'd said it.

"What?" he asked, but the redhead just shrugged, not about to repeat himself. Myrrha was still under the impression that he hated his guts, after all. Maybe it would be better if it just stayed that way.

"Nothing. I'm glad I was able to see you one last time too," he said. Before Myrrha was able to answer him, a thought struck in his head, and he started speaking again "Hey, maybe once I'm king you can come back? If I made +anima free, then there wouldn't be any need for you to hide in Astaria anymore," he said. Myrrha's eyes were open so wide they looked as if they were ready to fall out of his head.

"Huh? I… um, sure… I mean, free the slaves anyway, but yeah, I guess I could come back to visit if you did that," he stuttered out. Keane smiled a bit sheepishly. He knew it was a very strange thing to offer, 'hey, how about I free an entire race of people from slavery when I grow up so that you can visit later?' but he'd never really understood why it was mandatory for +anima to be slaves anyway. Seeing Myrrha as one now and meeting his friends only helped to solidify the uncertainty of the whole thing, and he knew that when he did finally have power, he would probably start working towards getting the +anima more rights.

"I can't wait to see you again someday, then," he said, and reluctantly Myrrha nodded.

"Yeah, you too, I guess," he mumbled. The redhead shifted himself so that he was now lying on the bed, but he could still see the younger boy where he sat. Myrrha was staring at him now, although Keane couldn't tell what was going on in his head. It was obvious he was thinking something over, but there was no way for him to know what.

"Hey Keane?" he said after a few moments, so quietly the redhead almost didn't hear him.

"Yeah?" he answered, although Myrrha almost instantly started shaking his head, as if he already regretted saying anything to begin with.

"Never mind, it's not important," he said, but that only seemed to cause Keane to want to know what it was he was going to say even more.

"Are you sure? I promise I wont tell anyone if you don't want me to," he said, and the silver boy stared down at the ground for a few moments. It was clear that he was thinking it over, and Keane waited patiently for whatever decision he'd come to.

"How about this? You grow up, become king and free +anima, and I'll tell you what I was going to say next time I visit," he said. It seemed like a horribly lopsided deal, but Keane smiled and nodded anyway.

"I can't even get a hint?" he asked, and Myrrha sighed, but he didn't seem particularly annoyed or anything.

"It's how I ended up in that pond in the first place," he said quietly. The redhead stared at him in silence for a moment as that sunk in. He knew that there had to be some story behind that, even if it wasn't suicide, but he hadn't expected Myrrha to be the one to actually bring the situation up. Once again though, he nodded.

"Okay then, that sounds like a deal," he said at last, and he was just barely able to make out Myrrha smiling slightly in the dark as he nodded in agreement.

"Now get some sleep, it's probably almost four in the morning," Myrrha said, and Keane nodded, just barely able to stifle a yawn. Closing his eyes, he still didn't think that he would be able to get to sleep. He did feel a lot calmer now than he had before though.

He really couldn't comprehend the type of life that Myrrha was living now, but so far, he'd managed to keep himself safe. His friends seemed nice too, and they'd certainly gone out of their way in order to help the silver boy travel all the way here. Keane didn't doubt that Myrrha would be able to hold himself out long enough for him to change the laws so that he could come back.

Much to his own surprise, it wasn't long before the soon to be Crown Prince had fallen asleep. Sure, it would be a very long time before he ever got to see Myrrha again, but he would be able to.

Despite everything, that was something he was very happy about indeed.

* * *

><p>Aw, isn't Keane just a little sweetheart? This actually came out a lot cuter than I originally intended, but I guess my mind was just in the mood for something to make me happy. It was also longer than I thought it would be, but whatcha gonna do?<p>

Anyway, I hope you all like the little oneshot. Thanks for reading and please review.


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